Interview Log Name of person(s) interviewed: Donald Boesch
Other people present: None
Researcher: Alexis Leake
Date of interview: May 11th, 2019
Location of interview: Donald Boesch’s home, Pendleton, Oregon
Special conditions (noise, interruptions, etc.): Refrigerator begins running at about 22:52 until the end of the interview.
General description of contents: Donald Boesch discusses his first days in the service, his experiences, what everyday life was like, and what he did after his service ended. Throughout the interview he gives stories of events that had happened to him while in the service. At the end, he gives his overall opinion on the army.
Length of interview: 37:50
Index 0:00-0:04 It starts off with the title slide containing the name of the project, interviewee’s name, date and year born, branch of service, and years active.
0:04-0:35 Introduction including the interviewer stating the date, where, and with whom the interview took place. It also goes over his branch of service and final rank.
0:35-3:07 This section goes over his enlistment into the army, why he joined, and his first days in service and what it felt like. It also went over his boot camp training experiences, his instructors, and how he got through it.
3:07-6:26 This was about his experiences including the places he went to, what it felt like arriving at those places, his job and assignments, and his most memorable experiences.
6:26-13:10 We went on to talk about his life in the army including how he stayed in touch with his family, what the food was like, if he had plenty of supplies, if he felt pressure or stress, how they entertained themselves, what he did when on leave, where he traveled while in the service, humorous and unusual events, as well as what he thought of his officers and fellow soldiers.
13:10-14:49 This goes over his time after the service where we discussed the day his service ended, what he did afterward, the work he went on to do, if he made any close friendships while in the service, and if he joined a veterans organization.
14:49-16:07 We further discuss his later years with his career after serving, how his military experience influenced his thinking about war and the military in general, and how his service and experiences affected his life.
16:07-17:34 He goes on to further explain why he enlisted into the army.
17:34-18:19 He also goes into more of the entertainment that they had while in the service.
18:19-21:36 Later he goes into how he served during the Cold War Era when the United States and Russia were in a disagreement. He goes on to explain that if you don’t learn about history, history is bound to repeat itself.
21:36-22:52 We further talk about specific activities he had to do while in boot camp consisting of exercising, hiking, and crawling through mud.
22:52-28:50 He discusses a story of when he got an alert for Lebanon where there were being fights between Muslims and Christians. He explains the different helicopters there were and how jumpers were involved.
28:50-33:26 Then, he explains how he went on to take an early out from his three years of active duty and how just before he wouldn’t be able to be recalled, he was due to the Berlin Crisis. He then went on to explain how he went into the National Guard and spent a lot of his time in Yakima.
33:26-35:16 While in the National Guard, he talks about how they didn’t really have any work for him when he first got there, so he would go and hang out at a coffee shop whenever he could.
35:16-37:31 He further goes into his time at the Yakima Training Center where he goes over a story of how fellow soldiers of his were saying they were being invaded. He explains that he heard tanks coming and then goes over how he got out of there.
37:31-37:40 He summarizes that overall there are good times and bad times to be in the army, but he is happy to say that he was in it during the good times.
37:40-37:50 I go on to thank him for doing the interview with me and then the credits of the interview are shown.
Mr. Donald Boesch Interviewed by Alexis Leake, 2019
Mr. Donald Boesch, a Cold War veteran, was interviewed on May 11th, 2019.
Donald Boesch enlisted into the United States Army about six months after graduating from high school. He explains that he decided to enlist as he was getting tired of the cold weather in Haines, Oregon, and also because jobs were getting hard to find as employers didn’t want to hire young men that were likely to be drafted. Not only that, but he decided on the army service branch as he wanted to follow in his uncle’s footsteps who had served in the army during World War II.
When Boesch had enlisted, he was living in Haines, Oregon at the time. He recalls on his first days in the service that the men in the barracks stayed up all night telling jokes. He explains that none of them could get any sleep.
Boesch finished his basic training at Fort Ord, California. He later went on to Fort Eustis, Virginia where he received helicopter training. Then he went to Fort Riley, Kansas until he left to Augsburg, Bavaria in Germany.
Boesch was a crew chief of the helicopters. This meant that he was the mechanic that would help to fix the helicopters anytime they were having problems. With this, he got to ride in the helicopters very often across different countries. Boesch goes on to explain that sometimes he even got to fly the helicopters.
Just about when his three years of active duty were about over, he decided to try and get an early out and so he did, but just eleven days before he could no longer be recalled, he was. So, he was then put back into the army due to the Berlin Crisis at that time and spent a majority of this time in the army at Fort Louis in the National Guard which totaled less than a year.
The day Boesch’s service ended, he left Fort Louis on bus to get back to Haines, Oregon. From there, he walked home and when he got back, he recalls seeing his mother washing the milk separator and it went back to normal from there. The days and weeks afterward he had decided to go back to work where he helped his father on the farm for some time, but then soon went on to work at a Studebaker Garage selling auto parts until they went out of business. After that, he went and worked at a Pontiac International Dealer where he continued to sell auto parts.
Donald Boesch ended up serving for his country for a total of about four years, and not only that, but he also ended up raising a family of three wonderful children.
Overall, Boesch explains that he enjoyed his experience in the service, was glad he did it, and that he would do it again.
I’m so grateful that I got the opportunity to interview such a wonderful man and I’m glad I get to call him my grandfather.